Official MLBlog of the Kansas City Royals front office.

Ned Yost media session: March 30

Fresh off a Cactus League championship, Royals manager Ned Yost expressed excitement for the 2011 season while meeting with the Kansas City media Wednesday afternoon, prior to the club’s workout at Kauffman Stadium. The Royals finished 20-10-1 overall in spring training, finishing with a string of six consecutive victories.

Yost attributed the spring training success to consistency on both offense and defense, along with an aggressive approach on the base paths. Specifically, KC scored 220 runs and only allowed opponents to cross the plate 151 times. In the field, he said the squad only endured one tough game the entire spring.

A popular topic pertaining to the Royals this spring has been the development of young players. Yost emphasized that the sooner these players get experience, the quicker the club can improve. In particular, three members of the bullpen will soon be making their big league debuts in Nate Adcock, Tim Collins and Aaron Crow. According to the skipper, these live arms earned spots on the Opening Day roster by having good command of the strike zone throughout spring training.

Perhaps the most impressive spring performance came from left fielder Alex Gordon. Yost said that Gordon worked extensively with hitting coach Kevin Seitzer to revamp his swing. After a slow start, Gordon caught fire and his at-bats eventually became something that no spectator in Arizona wanted to miss.

Editor’s note: The media relations department welcomes our new interns, Sarah and Tyler. They will be bringing you the majority of our media session posts this season.

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